Chrono X Angel, Book 6: Branching Paths

Chapter 4

Come morning the next day, both Usoko and Emiko looked much the worse for wear. Thought both girls may have managed to sleep after the previous night's incident, neither had slept well it seemed, with Usoko coming off far worse than Emiko did. She had been awoken by Kuroko's astonished exclamations when the younger pinkette had glanced out the window of their room, only to discover it was almost completely concealed by snow! Though their room was on the first floor, and in direct alignment with last night's powerful winds, Kuroko had not expected it to drift this much!! Wow!! Uh... this was just a drift right? It had not actually snowed nearly ten feet overnight right? It would turn out she was only partially correct, as it had snowed roughly 5 feet as they had slept, with the wind blasting it even higher in many places. They were all effectively snowed in, at least for today, with no feasible way out currently available. Sure, Emiko or Usoko might have been able to use their powers to melt the snow entirely, but that would risk regular people seeing their abilities on display. At the very least, the disappearance of that much snow that quickly would not be easy to explain, and so they were stuck for now. Oh joy.

"Guess it could be worse," sighed Misato as she and Kuroko met for breakfast, making sure to grab enough for their two roommates, "This was only a spat and not a full on fight, so we don't have to deal with that too. Hopefully this'll blow over soon."

"Yeah," muttered Kuroko, still worried about her sister, "I just... I haven't seen Usoko so upset since... well, for a long time. I wish I could do more for her."

"I feel you," nodded Misato, taking a bite of some french toast, "Huh, never thought I'd actually feel bad for her. How weird."

Kuroko tilted her head in confusion, and Misato almost choked when she realized she had said that part out loud and immediately went into a longwinded explanation that answered nothing. However before Kuroko could try probing her niece for answers, she noticed a familiar person walking towards them looking quite bedraggled. It was Usoko, wearing a green blanket over her entire body and looking like some kind of verdant ghost, large dark bags encircling her heavily lidded eyes.

"Sis, I thought you were gonna stay in the room," asked Kuroko in concern, "You should go back okay? We'll bring ya your food."

The elder Tachibana shook her head, sitting down across from her sister and putting her head in her hands.
"I keep thinking about what happened last night and I... I think I sorta realized what Emi was getting at, and I just... feel terrible I mean... GAH!!"

Her head fell from her hands and collided with the table with a loud crash as the two girls gave each other a concerned look. Of the two, Misato had more experience dealing with quarrels and lovers spats, and so she felt the most qualified to help Usoko out.

"Listen, mo-Usoko, it's not too late to apologize to her. I understand hating a parent with burning intensity, but if I could manage to forgive you, or at least this version of you, you could try making amends with your own dad. But first, you need to apologize to Emiko. I'm sure she'll forgive you, in fact I know it."

Usoko's head peered up, glancing first at Misato and then to Kuroko, both girls giving her a determined nod, and so she acquiesced. Not before scarfing down an entire plate of pancakes however...

In her own room, Emiko had just managed to pull herself out of bed and walk over to the bathroom to wash up. Her whole body was stiff and sore from sleeping poorly the night before, and a part of her hoped the warm water might loosen her up. As she turned the faucet to let the water start flowing, a knocking came from the door.

"Misato?" She asked blearily, "If that's you, come on in dear. I'm starting a bath, so if you could, please leave my food on the table."

A moment passed before more knocking. Either Misato was bringing more food than Emiko expected, or it was someone else without a key. Sighing, she tied a towel securely around her torso and made her way over to the door before checking the peephole. It was...